Junk Drawer Spirtuality

Does Church Online Work?

One recent phenomenon that we're beginning to see at a few churches around the country is the use of the internet to broaden the church's reach to folks who might not be interested in physically stepping inside the doors of a church.  Now days, you can create a live streaming video of an entire worship service with professional quality camera work and audio, and at the same time operate within a chat room where people sharing the same experience can chat back and forth about the message and service, pray for each other, and even participate in an online small group later in the week.

I am not 100% sold on the experience.  I think time will tell how valuable of a service an online campus really is in helping people love God and people well.  I'm glad churches are trying it, but I continue to have trouble with the idea that a person could watch an online service, enter a chat-room, never meet a single person from my church face-to-face, but we would somehow be OK with that and not push them to experience "real" church.  On the other hand, I do truly believe in online community.  I think real community DOES happen through internet technology (blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.).  I suppose the question is whether or not "church community" can happen online where people are somehow loving God better, loving people better, and finding their way back to God.

Well, today, I came across this video that put another plus in the column for online community (if you're keeping score).  Check it out.

http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/08/13/why-church-online/comment-page-1/#comment-165763

The Most Popular Games You've Never Heard Of

I have now lived in three different regions of the United States.  I grew up in Texas (the Texas panhandle to be exact), I lived in Denver, Colorado for five years, and I have now lived in Chicago for more than two years.  I love observing the differences in cultures between the various places I have lived. . . the accents through which people speak, the foods people eat, the sports teams for whom people cheer.

But one thing that has been an interesting discovery in my various moves around the country is the differences between the games people play from region to region.  People in Texas don't play the same games as the people in Chicago, and the people in Colorado don't play the same games as the people in Texas.  I have a hunch that one could go to any state in the United States and find one regional pastime that is mostly unique to that region, that most people in that region understand and play, and that most people outside that region have never heard of.  And understanding and competently playing these games is perhaps one of the most important steps in assimilating into any new environment.  

So I thought I'd begin a list of games that are often played in certain regions, but rarely played in others.  If you'd like to add to the list leave a comment below. . .

Mexico Trip 2009

Late last night I returned home from Tijuana, Mexico, where myself and a group of nine others spent a week building a home for a Mexican family.  It was Waterfront's first official mission trip.  We went with Amor Ministries, an organization based out of San Diego, CA who have built thousands of homes for families such as these for the past 30 years.  About 4 years ago I led a similar trip to Juarez, but I think every time you go on a trip like this, it's unique.  It's hard to talk about everything so let me just hit a few of the highlights.

The Most Impressive Part of the trip:

The family:  On my previous Mexico house building experience, the family was not very involved with our team, and so we never really had the opportunity to get to know them.  What a difference it was with our family last week!  From the first day of our build the mother and her two children interacted with us, joked with us, played with us, worked with us, and became part of our lives.  I couldn't believe how hard this family worked.  Their 10 year old son followed us around all week with his hammer and tool belt helping us build his home.  Rosario, his mother, spent hours with us that first day, filling buckets of sand with a shovel and carrying them up a hill so we could mix them with concrete.  They were so personable and so appreciative, getting to know them really made the whole trip for me.

The Funnest Part:

There were a few moments during the week that we set down our hammers and shovels and just enjoyed ourselves.  Here are the my top three:

1.  Soccer:  Late in the day on day 2, with a brand new soccer ball in hand (given by one of our team members), our Mexican family's daughter asked us to play soccer with her.  So I and two other fellas from our group headed over to a near-by field where a bunch of neighborhood kids joined us for a game of soccer.  We played for about half an hour, and I was pretty whipped by the end, but it was a blast.

2. Water Balloon fight:  On our third day, we brought a bunch of water balloons and had a water balloon fight with a bunch of the kids.  It was alot of fun.

    

3.  Taking our family out to lunch:  On the second day, we decided to go out to lunch with our team to a local restaurant and we invited our family to come with us.  It was awesome.  The food was excellent.  Great tacos, quesadillas and home-made guacamole, and we ate A TON of it.  And we had a fun time visiting with our family.  They talked about that experience for the rest of the week.  The mother was telling all of her neighbors "They just kept ordering food!"    

The Hardest Part:

Day one of the build:  On my previous Mexico experience, I had a team of about 17 or 18 people and we used an electric concrete mixer to make the concrete for the house's foundation.  I still remember that day being really, really difficult.  On THIS trip, we had only 10 people, and we mixed the entire slab of concrete (22 X11) by hand with garden hoes.  It was really hot, it was hard work, we were short-handed by about 2 or 3 people, and it was pretty darn miserable.  We all came home after that first day saying, "That sucked."

But, the following days were easier, and overall, the trip was great.  There will be more to come, but here are a few pictures from the trip. . .

Music, Art, and Worship

So here's a practical question relating to the design of worship experiences.  When it comes to the type of music played in a worship service, should popular songs, written and sung by secular artists, be permitted in the lineup?  Not an easy question.  I know people on both sides of the issue who would go to the mat on this one.  There are some people I've encountered recently who strongly oppose the use of secular music during a worship service.  And I suppose I can understand that.  In fact if you had asked me 4 or 5 years ago, I probably would have opposed the use of popular secular music in a worship service in MOST cases too.  I'll give you 3 reasons why I opposed it then, before I tell you how I changed my position more recently:

1.  4 years ago, I would have told you that popular, secular music is for performance, not worship.  Worship, by it's nature, in some way needs to be participatory for the people.  In other words, what I saw in the use of secular songs was a theological shift where it was no longer the congregation performing worship for God as our audience, but rather worship bands performing entertainment for the congregation as the audience.  Therefore, because secular, popular music was not designed to be participatory in the way that praise music or hymns were designed, it felt decidedly out of place to include them in an environment of worship.

2.  I also would have argued that secular music is often inappropriately misused by some churches when they choose a song that sounds as though it's related to something Christian, spiritual, or worshipful, when the artist who authored the song actually intended something totally different.  From my Seminary Biblical interpretation classes, I learned the importance of trying to discover the original author's intent before deciding what a passage of Scripture meant.  I figured the same principle should apply to the use of music.  If the author intended that a song was meant in a certain way when he wrote it, then to perform it in a way he did not intend seemed disingenuous to both the author and to God.  Who are we to take a love song written by a musician about his girlfriend and plug it in as a worship song we sing about our love for God?  Something just seemed a little "off" about it.

3.  And maybe the most important criticism I had of this type of worship selection was that I felt the motivation behind it had less to do with honoring God in the most genuine way possible and more to do with looking cool.  I realized there may have been some evangelism benefits to that type of style, but really . . . to me it seemed more like an attempt at impressing people, not glorifying God. 

But as I said, I have changed some of my thoughts on this subject to the point where I now actively search for good secular music to use in conjunction with our services at Waterfront rather than avoid them like the plague.  How did I change my mind?

Failure to Brake

This afternoon I had one of those situations happen that was a complete pain, totally frustrating, and it was only minimally avoidable.  I was driving down Golf Road in Schaumburg approaching the intersection at Higgins when the light turned yellow.  Now, most drivers know that if you're within 20 feet of the white line of the intersection when the light turns yellow, it is better for everyone if you keep driving through the intersection.  The driver in the vehicle in front of me did not do that.  She decided to stop.

Now . . . I'm quite certain that if she had continued through the intersection, not only would she have safely passed through the intersection before the light turned red, but so would I and the car behind me without even sweating the prospect of running the red.  I'm also quite certain that if she had simply decided to brake very quickly, I would have had plenty of time to brake my own vehicle before colliding into her.

I was, however, completely unprepared for the "speed up then slam on your brakes" fake out.  It was like trying to tackle Devon Hester in the open field.  She hit the gas as if to indicate that she was going to go through the intersection.  My brain told my foot, "She's trying to go through the intersection."  My foot came off the brake pedal.  Then suddenly, the "fake out" came as she slammed on her brakes as if she was about to hit a box full of kittens.  My brain yelled to my foot "OMG!!!  SHE'S BRAKING!!"  My foot responded ... I braked ... but not enough to prevent me from sliding into the back of her black Subaru, dinging up her back end and crunching up my front end.

How Well Does Seminary Train a Person For Ministry?

I just read an article in Christianity Today about the gap that exists between the staff roles available for people seeking ministry and the trained ministers that seminaries are producing.  The author (Bobby Ross) suggests that seminaries should do a better job training seminary students for senior pastoral roles that require not only a dynamic pulpit ministry, but also the ability to manage personnel.  Right you are, Mr. Ross.  But let me even take that one step further.

Pin a Tie on a Small Group Leader

Last week,we had a small group fair at Waterfront, advertising our new groups starting up in a few weeks.  And since it was Father's Day, we had the idea that we would ask everyone to give the leader of the small group in which they were interested a necktie.

Actually, they weren't supposed to give them real neckties.  We had cut-out neckties on which they could write down their names and contact info, and then when they left the auditorium, they saw large 24X36 posters of each of our leaders where they could stick their ties.  John McDavitt made the pictures up, and I thought they were brilliant.  Check it out:

Funny Blog Post About a Guy Tracking Down a Stolen iPhone

Aaron Monts just twittered about this blog post, and since I haven't blogged about anything personally in a while, and since I don't feel like devoting much head space to create my own thoughts on any subject, I decided to post a link to someone else who posted a kick-butt and absolutely hilarious story.  This guy had his iPhone stolen one night, so he's telling the story of how he ended up tracking the thief down with a new Apple app "Find My iPhone."  It's really funny.

Here's THE POST

Fiddler on the Roof

Friday, my mom flew in from Texas to join me for a night of Chicago theater.  We went to see "The Fiddler on the Roof."  It's her all time favorite musical and one of my favorites too, although I'd only seen the movie, not the actual play.  And it was really cool.  First of all, it was the farewell performance for Topol.  Who's Topol, you ask?  He's the Israeli actor who played the Oscar nominated lead role of the father, Tevye, in "Fiddler" the movie.  And really ... anyone who's known by a one-word name already scores mega-cool points in my book.

And he was awesome.  Tevye is such a rich character with so much personality.  And it's hard for me to imagine anybody being able to play his role with the same depth as Topol does.  Amazingly (I didn't realize this), the original movie in which Topol played Tevye was a 1971 production.  That was 38 years ago and he's still playing that same character at age 74.  And the dude was as spry as he ever was in 1971!

It was a great show.  Watching live theater is, of course, so much more enjoyable than watching a movie, but it had even been awhile since I'd seen the movie, so it was kinda like hearing the story for the first time on Friday night.  It was a great night.  The theater was beautiful (the Oriental), the music was great, the sets were amazing . . .  It was all great.

Megachurches and Young People

I just read an article that talks about some research that was done suggesting that, contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of younger church attenders attend megachurches (churches with an average of 2000 or more attenders) rather than non-megachurches.  I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising, but in recent years, there has been alot written by folks who've suggested that the new, upcoming, "postmodern" generation is tired of the megachurch model of their baby-boomer parents and they're ready for closer, more intimate, more "authentic" fellowship when they go to church.

According to this research, that thinking is ridiculous.  "Nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under 45, double the numbers in Protestant congregations of all sizes. The vast majority are between 18 and 44."  That's pretty amazing when you consider the fact that the average attender age in a protestant church is 53!  Young people gravitate toward megachurches, not smaller more intimate churches.

Now, the big question is why . . . Why do younger people like their churches BIG?  Is it a quality issue (bigger means better music, more programs, facilities, speakers, etc.), an anonymity issue (it's easier to slip in and out of a megachurch without being noticed), an enthusiasm issue (bigger means the church leaders must have a compelling vision)?  It's hard to say.  

Moving

Last week, I moving out of my apartment and moving into my new home in Streamwood, IL.  I'm very excited to be in my new place.  It's great to have a home.  But I was just thinking about how taxing a move can be on a person.  This is something like my 15th move in 12 years, so I should be much more used to it, but I'm not.  

For me, I began boxing all of my possessions last Wednesday, boxed all day and continued boxing every free moment I had through Friday evening.  I picked up a 17 foot Uhaul truck early Saturday morning, began loading it around 10:30 (with the help of about 10 good friends), and finished by 1:00.  We arrived in Streamwood by 2:00 and unloaded the whole truck into my new place in alittle over an hour.  I returned the Uhaul, picked up a few odds and ends, and set up my bed in just enough time to crash on it 'til morning.  Sunday morning I picked up the Waterfront trailer to setup for church (and I totally had an awesome servant's attitude about that too :)) at about 6:45, worked and worshipped, and then dropped the trailer off by 1:00.  Then immediately, I drove back down to Aurora to finish cleaning my former apartment and box the last of my stuff.  I started cleaning around 3:30 and left about 7:30.  That's right, 7:30.

Since that time, I have unboxed, bought furnishings, constructed cheap target furnishings, moved furnishings, hooked up electronics, broken down boxes, etc., etc., etc.  And amazingly, I am still not relaxed.  The funny thing about a move is that I cannot take my mind off the move until the very last picture is hung, and the very last box is unpacked.  I'm compulsive that way.  And it's taxing . . . mentally and physically.  I'm happy to be here.  But I HATE moving.      

Jon and Kate Plus . . . Awwwwkwaaaard

I just watched the season opener of "Jon and Kate Plus 8," the TLC reality show featuring Jon and Kate Gosselin and their 8 children (a set of twins and a set of sextuplets).  I don't watch the show often, but when I do, I enjoy it.  It is just about the only reality show I can stand.  I hate the canned drama, pseudo-game shows, celebrity celebrations, and the obviously scripted realities you get on lots of other "reality" shows.  But you can't script what a 4 year old says, which makes Jon and Kate plus 8 the most refreshingly real reality show I've seen.  It shows good moments with parents and their kids, the challenges of raising multiples, and cute, tender moments between the mom and dad, Jon and Kate.  

Tonight was the first episode in their 5th season, which was really interesting because it was the first episode since the tabloid reports that Jon's been steppin' out on Kate.  

Star Trek: a Review

Last night I saw Star Trek.  I'm not sure that I would call myself a "Trekky," but I did grow up watching Star Trek with my family.  Started out watching the original series with Captain Kirk, and when the "Next Generation" came out with Jean-Luke Picard and the rest of the Enterprise crew, we ended up watching that one pretty religiously too.

And yes, I've also seen all the movies (I think).  I don't go to Star Trek conventions or wear Vulcan ears in the shower, but I do like the show.  And I was pretty excited to see this Star Trek movie because I'd heard alot of good things about it AND, it was written and directed by JJ Abrams, the creator of "Lost" (my current favorite TV show).

So, here's my review. . .

Funny Little Cubs and Sox Fans

This just about says it all about the cross-town rivalry.  I love one of the comments someone left: "Cute ... but sad that the debate won't get much more intelligent as they get older."  :)

The Path To Theological Liberalism . . .

I was reading Michael Patton's blog today and he made a comment that I thought was pretty interesting:

"In one of our annual two-day meetings about ten years ago, we got to discussing theological liberalism during lunch. . . . Most of the scholars on this committee were theologically liberal, and one of them casually mentioned that, as far as he was aware, 100% of all theological liberals came from an evangelical or fundamentalist background. I thought his numbers were a tad high since I had once met a liberal scholar who did not come from such a background. I’d give it 99%.  Whether it’s 99%, 100%, or only 75%, the fact is that overwhelmingly, theological liberals do not start their academic study of the scriptures as theological liberals. They become liberal somewhere along the road."

I thought that was an interesting observation.  Of course I'm not aware of any academic studies to verify the numbers (although that would be an interesting study), but at least from an observational perspective, it's sorta ironic that those who carry the torch for Biblical liberalism most highly originally cut their teeth on the theology designed to guard itself against liberalism.  I mean, what is fundamentalism or evangelicalism if there is no liberalism or modernism?

I think the common assumption is that theological liberals become liberals because they're too close to liberal areas of the country/ liberal academic institutions/ liberal churches/ liberal parents, and not grounded enough in good old fashioned evangelicalism.  If Patton's right, it makes you wonder #1, how good a job evangelicalism is doing in really grounding people in good theology in a way that's defensible.  or #2, How important are the categories to begin with?   

Final Day ... Waterfront's First Small Group Session in Review

Today is our official last day of small groups for the Spring session.  We began our first small groups at Waterfront in early February, ran 12 weeks, and now we're coming to a close.

It's been a great semester.  We've seen alot of new people get connected.  We've seen many new people come to a deeper knowledge of God.  And we've all learned some things along the way.

I think in general, our experimental approach at term-based small groups that conclude at semester end has been good.  I'm alittle surprised at the amount of "push-back" we've received from some group members at the idea.  I think after we go through a semester end and semester start, it will seem less scary in the future, but at this stage, there are some who are having a really difficult time conceptualizing what it means for a small group to reach a conclusion and start again.

I've been pleased with the number of new group leaders who have shown interesting branching off to begin new groups next session.  We're seeing some really strong potential for growth and coaching through that.  And recently we've had several people from the outside of our church who've expressed recent interest in participating in Community Life ministry on an internship-type basis.  So potential abounds.

All of that is to say, I'm really excited about where this ministry is headed in our next few seasons.

Going from Home-Renter to Home-Owner

This afternoon at approximately 3:45 PM I crossed the line from home-renter to home-owner.  I closed on a new house in Streamwood, IL.

It's an interesting thing, purchasing a home.  I've never lived in a place (at least since I moved out of my parent's house) that I've ever really considered home ... my home.  I've always rented.  And not only have I always rented, but I've also frequently moved from one rental to the next.  I did the math one day and I estimated that in the 13 years since I moved to College Station, TX to go to college, I have moved again and again and again at least 15 times (I might have missed a move or two as I was calculating, but 15 is close enough).  So it's weird imagining that I'm going to be moving to a place that I can call home . . . that's mine . . . that's not just a transitional home to another stage in life.

It's also interesting because as silly as it sounds, this house represents for me the roots I have set down in this community.  I have not been in a position to purchase a home in the past, primarily because I have not yet lived in a place where I could really drop anchor.  I've been living a life of transition since I was 18.  I transitioned to college . . . waiting until graduation.  I transition to Amarillo . . . waiting for seminary.  I transitioned to Denver . . . waiting to finish seminary.  I transitioned to Chicago . . . waiting to find a ministry and church.

Waterfront Community Church, and the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago have become that for me.  And that's why for me, this home purchase is more than just a financial decision.  It's a symbol for this community becoming my home and not just a place I'm passing through. 

The Big Switch . . . My PC to Mac Conversion

Alittle over a month ago, I made a significant life change.  I decided to buy a mac.  It was not an easy decision.  It was something I'd fought for a very long time, but here are the reasons I finally decided to make the switch:  

1.  A few months ago, a bunch of viruses made their way into my Dell's systems folder and started screwing around with my machine to the point where I had to just erase everything and start over.  I'm honestly sick of dealing with viruses, and just as sick of messing with anti-virus software.  

2.  Even after reloading my Windows operating system and cleaning out the whole hard drive, I still ran into the same kinds of problems I always encountered with the computer.  Windows would freeze up and crash on me, or everything would run super-slow for no reason at all.

Fly-Fishing in Colorado

Last week I took a trip to Colorado for alittle R&R and some fly-fishing.  It was a short trip, but it was alot of fun.  I flew into Denver Thursday morning to meet a friend of mine from Fort Collins, CO (Daniel Bort) at the airport.  Some of Daniel's family lives in Denver, so we went downtown to meet  them at The Falling Rock Tap House for lunch.  It's a little hole in the wall joint in Denver LoDo with a huge beer selection and great hamburgers.

Daniel and I loaded up on groceries and then made the 2 hour trip up the mountains from Denver to Grand Lake, Colorado, a beautiful vacation town just on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park.  There's an amazing and very generous woman I knew when I pastored a church in Golden, CO who owns a beautiful lakeside cabin in Grand Lake.  She let us crash there for a night.

Back on The Blogging Horse

It has been 41 days since my last blog post, and I've been feeling alittle guilty about that.  I enjoy blogging . . . I do.  But I just haven't posted anything recently, and I can surmise 4 reasons why:

1.  I have been super busy for the past month.  Between Easter, visitors, trips, purchasing a house, and the increased pressures of ministry, I have had little excess time to post.

2.  I have become much more active on Twitter, which I guess has scratched a bit of that social networking itch.  Twittering is definitely different from blogging, but they're similar enough that one makes me not miss the other quite so much.

3.  I actually bought a mac in the last month (which warrants a whole other post).  It has taken me a bit to get my computer up to snuff configuration-wise, and my internet has been a bit finicky.

4.  When I'm blogging regularly, I put much less pressure on myself when determining what exactly is a "post-worthy" subject.  But after you haven't blogged in a week, or two weeks, or 41 days, you start to feel alittle more pressure to post something really, really, brilliant, witty, and wise . . . 

As you can tell, on this last point, I have decided to throw caution to the wind :).

So, as of today, I'm going to try, once again, to get my blog on.  I like life when I'm blogging.  I like processing thoughts and ideas and feelings in a way one can only do when working on a post.  So I'm officially re-entering the blogging world . . . And I'm going to try to keep on it more consistently this time.    

"Does Satan Exist?" The Nightline Debate

I recorded it on my DVR last week, but I was watching basketball, so I couldn't watch it when it aired.  But tonight, I finally got the opportunity to watch the "NIghtline Face-Off" debate on the question "Does God Exist?"

I'll be honest. . . the only reason I was interested in watching this debate was for the sheer gluttonous entertainment value of watching Mark Driscoll debate Deepak Chopra.  For a theology nerd like myself, entertainment doesn't get any better than that.  As far as how challenging the debate was for either the debaters or the audience, I'd say it was sub-par and flawed from the beginning. 

Bad News

I am definintely not a doomsday prophet, "the world's going to hell in a handbasket," kind of guy.  I'm usually the guy looking for the silver lining.  I'm usualy the one saying, "things might SEEM bad, but it's really probably not all that different than how it usually is, or how it was back then, or we're only hearing about the bad stuff . . ."

But my gosh . . . is it just me or is the amount and intensity of the violence and evil we're seeing in the news reaching crazy levels?  My web-browser home page is CNN.com, and on the front page of CNN's homepage are these news headlines:

Is John Calvin Changing the World?

I just read a Time Magazine article in their latest issue titled, "10 Ideas Changing The World Right Now."  Now, after examining the other nine ideas, scratching my head thinking, "Is that really changing the world?" I suppose "the New Calvinism" isn't too far of a stretch.  But there it is. . . number 3 on the list. . . "The New Calvinism."  Time is referring to the recent popularity of "Reformed" gurus John Piper and Mark Driscoll, and the churches emerging (no pun intended) from their ministries.

So this introduces 3 big questions for me with regard to this article.  First, by who's definition is the theology espoused by Driscoll and Piper new?  Calvinist?  Yes.  New?  I don't see it.  If somebody can, I'd be more than willing to listen, but as far as I can tell, Driscoll's and Piper's theology is the same Calvinism we've been hearing since Jonathan Edwards.  The only thing different is the music and the dress code.

Second question . . . Other than Mars Hill and Bethlehem Baptist, which pastors, churches, writers, or thinkers, are elevating this "New Calvinism" to such rock star status?  The largest and most popular church in America is still (by far) Lakewood church in Houston - a church that is about as far removed from John Calvin as one could get.  And even beyond Osteen, it appears to me that some of the largest and most influential churches within Evangelicalism include churches like Mars Hill Seattle, but Mars Hill Grand Rapids seems to be having just as wide of an impact with a different set of Doctrines.  The point is, they're doing great stuff. but I don't see any basis for believing that this theology has suddenly rocketed to an exclusively influential position within Evangelical thought. 

Third question. . . Who decided that "New Calvinism" is "changing the world?"  I could be convinced that evangelicalism is changing the world (with lots of numbers and pie charts).  I could be convinced that certain movements within evangelicalism are changing the world (movements toward global concerns, social justice, etc.).  But Neo-Calvinism?  Somebody enlighten me please.  

My Tournament Brackets

As of right now . . . 4:30 PM Central time . . . March 19, 2009 . . . day 1 and round 1 of the 2009 NCAA basketball tournament . . . I am 7 for 7 with my picks, and in the lead of my yahoo sports tournament challenge.  Think I can go all the way? 

Outliers, The 10,0000 Hour Rule (Ch. 2)

Practice makes perfect.  At least that's the rule of success I always heard growing up.  if you practice hard enough, you can do practically anything.  Of course, as we grow older, we realize that this rule of thumb is only partially true.  Practice makes perfect, but perfect also relies heavily on a person's inherent talent and ability.  Those who truly rise through the ranks of excellence, those who excel in their fields, they are the most gifted, the brightest, the strongest, the fastest, the most skilled . . . Or are they?

Waterfront's Global Partners

Ever since the story about Waterfront came out on NBC a few weeks ago, we've been hearing from all kinds of people from all over the country and even outside of the country.  Some people have simply emailed us to express their appreciation and root us on.  Some have emailed wondering how we do what we do.  And many many others have emailed us wanting to help us out in our mission.

Here's a cool story. . . Last week, we received a box in the mail.  It was from an 83 year old woman who lives in Connecticut.  She said that she saw the story on NBC about Waterfront and what we're doing in our community, and she was so moved that she wanted to help out in the best way she knew how.

So first, she wrote us a check. . . for $1,000 . . . deignated to help us fund the operations expenses of our church.  AMAZING!  But that's not what was in the box.  What was in the box were about 3 or 4 dozen beautifully hand-knitted caps for babies, which she knitted herself after seeing our braodcast.  She said, "I don't know how you can use these but this is what I have to give."  Jim shared this story with our church on Sunday, and I think every person in that room in Schuamburg, IL felt a special bond with an 83 year old woman in Connecticut whom we've never met.  And there are dozens of others who have stepped up and committed to finance our church as well.    

March Madness and Community

It's that time of year again.  All the teams have been selected.  People are filling out their brackets, starting office pools, placing bets, buying plain tickets, wishing and hoping their team will make it to the Final Four.

It's March Madness Time!

And since I'm always up for experimenting with new forms of community, we openned up a Waterfront Hoops Tournament Challenge to our entire church this morning.  It's all online at Yahoo Sports.  You just go there, enter the password and make your tournament picks.  But it's a way for a person who is not in a small group or who is largely unconnected with our church to take a baby-step toward connecting in a very non-threatening way.  Hope people respond.  I think elements of community can happen with these sorts of things.

And if you're a reader of this blog and want to join in the fun, you're more than welcome.  Just go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/, click "join a Group," and enter our group ID# 36097 and password: waterfrontcc.

    

Brownline Fiasco and Chatting with Bo Bice

A few weeks ago, I found out that a fellow pastor in the Schaumburg area, who also plays keys with a local rock band, was opening for former American Idol runner up Bo Bice at the Clearwater Theater in West Dundee.  Dave Rudin is a friend I've had the opportunity to get to know over the past year.  He's the lead pastor at Summitview Christian Church, a church that has been a great support for Waterfront since we came into the area.  But Dave also moonlights as a keyboarding rockstar with the band "Brownline Fiasco."

So I was excited to see Dave in concert. . . hadn't heard his band before.  And I was also interested in hearing the headliner, Bo Bice.  I've never heard his recorded music, but I remembered him from American Idol season 4, and I liked him then.  He's got a very southern, rock style about him, so I thought that might be cool.

Well as it turns out, another couple of friends, Jim and Sheri Mueller, (I've mentioned them in another post), do a radio show for their non-profit marriage ministry, and they were also planning on attending the concert so that they could interview Bo Bice for their show.  Apparently, Bo's a Christian.  He's married.  So why not?

To make a long story short, Jim and Sheri were able to get me a free ticket to the show.  I was able to see Dave and Brownline Fiasco play.  And then Jim and Sheri invited me to tag along with them for their interview with Bo Bice.  So we all went backstage before his set, hopped on Bo's tour bus, and then we chatted with him for about half an hour.  I kinda felt like the kid from the movie 'Almost Famous' . . . like I was peaking inside of a world that wasn't really my own.  It was a pretty cool evening.

"The Whigs" At The Bottom Lounge

Last night a friend and I went to see "The Whigs" in concert at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago.  I didn't know much about the band before I bought tickets, to be honest.  They were at Lollapalooza last year, so I received a free itunes song from them when I went there, and I liked THAT song ("Right Hand On My Heart").  So I figured I might like some of their other music too.  And at $15 a ticket, that's not a bad night out on the town.

The Whigs are from Athens, Georgia; they're obscure enough that they can only pack out small venues, but they definitely have some loyal and very enthusiastic followers.  The venue was a bar nestled underneath the Metra Line in a Chicago neighborhood off the beaten path.  In the front portion of the Bottom Lounge is a regular sports bar and grill, but to see the show, you have to walk out the back doors into a large, dark, concert hall reminiscent of something Edgar Allan Poe might dream up.  There were perhaps 500 people packed inside, mostly white, young professionals in their 20s and early 30s. 

The Whigs are basically a three-person garage rock band, so if you like that sort of thing, this band's for you.  They were great entertainers and if you appreciate very skilled drummers, the dummer for the Whigs was VERY impressive.  It was a fun night.  My ears are still ringing, and it was pretty late by the time I got home, but it's the kind of experience that's pretty fun once in a while. 

Forbes' Rich List Takes a Hit

According to a BBC article I just read, Forbe's annual "Rich List," the list of the weathiest people in the world, has taken a significant hit this year.  The financial crisis wiped 332 names off the list of world billionaires.  Now, just 793 people can lay claim to a place on the list, but on average those who still occupy that list have lost 23% of their wealth.

The guy who occupied the top spot last year, Warren Buffet . . . since last years' showing he's lost $25 billion!  He went from $62 billion in net worth to $37 billion.  Amazing.

Here's a video link for the story... 

Outliers, Chapter 1

This is the first chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers.  So to begin with . . . Pop quiz.  If you were a little boy growing up in Canada, and you dreamed of being a professional NHL hockey player, in which MONTH of the year should you have been born?

Give up?

The answer is either January, February, or March.  Don't believe me?  Just check out the birthdates for all of the hockey players in the NHL.  Not the year.  The month.  In fact, check out the rosters for any elite group of hockey players in North America.  It's astonishing!  "In any elite group of hockey players - the very best of the best - 40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March, 30 percent between April and June, 20 percent between July and September, and 10 percent between October and December."  It's an iron-clad law of Canadian Hockey, as predictable as the sunrise.

So the natural question is 'Why?' 

The Changing Face of Religion In America

I just read a Washington Post article written in response to recent research in the field of religion (the largest survey of it's kind).  Here are some of the interesting (and some scary) trends this article found. . .

• Far fewer people are willing to call themselves "Christian" than they were when the same survey was conducted 20 years ago.  Today, only 76 percent of the population identify themselves as Christian, down from 86 percent in 1990.
• The number of people who identify themselves with the term "Non-Denominational" has jumped through the roof . . . 194,000 in 1990 and today, more than 8 million.
• The only group that grew in every U.S. state since the 2001 survey was people saying they had "no" religion; the survey says this group is now 15 percent of the population.
• Northern New England has surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious section of the country.

How To Solve The Economic Crisis . . . SNL Style

This was on Saturday Night Live last night.  Pretty funny.

Going A-Twitter

A few weeks ago I decided to begin a little experiment.  I decided to begin a Twitter account.  I've resisted for many months in the same way I initially resisted blogging and Facebook, but I finally succumbed to the technological pressure and began Twittering just to see what all the buzz was about. I wanted to see if I'd actually enjoy it, and to see if it was really worth it.  It's been about 3 weeks now, and low an behold, I'm actually enjoying Twitter.

If you're kinda new to the Twitter world, here is the best way I can describe it:  It's a social networking site much like Facebook or Myspace, but the simple question it asks is: "What are you doing?"  Each twitter post has to fall within 140 characters.  So, you simply give quick, micro-burst updates to your life.  It's the kind of thing you update throughout the day with little remarks about what you're experiencing.  So you can follow people you know (or even people you don't know), get updates on what they're up to, you can let your "followers" know what you're doing or experiencing, and in a weird sorta techno-way, you stay connected with each other, and get connected with others.  There are about 6 million Twitter users now, and it's growing faster than any social networking site.

If you're anything like me, right now you're thinking "Why in the world would I want to do that?" 

Really Bizarre But Captivating Video

This is a video from Green Peace . . .

Helpless from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Sleepwalking Dog

This is the funniest clip I've seen in awhile.  My dog sometimes twitches in her sleep, and it looks like she's dreaming about running through a field or something.  THIS dog, is REALLY dreaming about running. . .

Are We Crazy????

That's the question the Catalyst Conference blog asked about my church after seeing the NBC news peice that came out on Friday: "Waterfront Community Church is a bunch of Crazies! They're giving away 100% of their weekend offering to help the poor and people in need!"

The comments on this blog are simply awesome!  I love the simplicity of the very first post in the comment section from John (Human3rror): "yes.  they are nuts."  Can't argue with the facts I guess :)

Outliers, An Introduction

A few months ago, I read a book that I've been anxious to blog about.  It's Malcolm Gladwell's latest book Outliers: The Story of Success.  I first became acquainted with Gladwell about five years ago when I read The Tipping Point, another excellent book.  So after I saw Gladwell talking about Outliers on the Colbert Report a few months ago (here's the vdeo), I knew I had to get it.  I read it . . . loved it.  And soon I started hearing about others talking about the book.  Here's a quote from an LA Times article I read:

"[Outliers] seems to have become the topic of conversation around [Holywood], during holiday parties and Oscar soirees. "Revolutionary Road" director Sam Mendes recently mentioned it during an interview. Will Smith, currently starring in "Seven Pounds," didn't mention "Outliers" by name during a recent chat with the Los Angeles Times, but he described a small movie he'd seen as featuring thespians who "I could tell . . . weren't world-class actors with 10,000 hours of experience." 

If you haven't read the book yet, you'll understand the "10,000 hours" reference soon enough.  

Gran Torino

I just saw the movie "Gran Torino" last night.  Generally speaking, I liked the movie.  Who better to play a tough, crotchety old man than Clint Eastwood, right?  Gran Torino is about an elderly white man who sticks out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood that is growing increasingly racially diverse.  He's bitter about the change and takes that bitterness out on anybody and everybody with very imaginitivly articulated slights and racial slurs.  His prized possession is his mint condition muscle car (a Gran Torino) that sits in his driveway only to draw the criminal attention of neighborhood gangs.  Through an unusual twist of fate, Eastwood's character develops a bond with his Asian neighbors, an experience that profoundly impacts both the neighbors and Eastwood's own temperament.

There are two really important themes in Gran Torino. 

Waterfront's NBC Nightly News Spot

Waterfront Community Church was featured on NBC NIghtly News Friday evening, February 27th.  Here is the news peice that aired

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

and here is some additional footage that did not air.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Waterfront is On NBC TONIGHT!!!!

I'm pretty sure this is it . . . We've waited for a few weeks.  We thought we were going to be on 2 weeks ago.  We got bumped, but it's all good.  No hard feelings.  But tonight I think we're finlly going to be on . . . 5:30 . . . NBC . . . Brian Wiliampalooza.

Set your DVRs and Tivos to stun.

The Real Saul, Your Super-Whatever

You have to imagine how he felt in that moment. 

Saul's entire army is being chased by the Philistines across a large hill.  They're running for their lives.  Saul's gripped by terror, sprinting so fast he's struggling to keep his feet as he attempts to navigate the rocky terrain.  He glances backward only to see all three of his sons cut down by the enemy.  His heart sinks, but he has no time to grieve.  He must keep running.  And suddenly, he feels a slight sting in the small of his back.  At first, it just feels like a bite, but quickly that sting spreads like wildfire throughout his body.  The metallic taste of blood touches his lips.  His body turns limp as he crashes to the turf.  His heart is pounding.  He knows he has to keep moving, but his body won't listen.  He reaches a trembling arm around his side to feel the long shaft of an arrow protruding from his back.  "That's it," he thinks.  "I'm finished." 

Book Review: The Blue Parakeet

I read this book a few months ago, but I'm just now getting around to writing a review.  Scot McKnight authored The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read The Bible.  It's a book that deals in heavy and complicated subjects but McKnight does a wonderful job of making his thoughts accessible to those without a theological education.  Compared to other hermeneutics books I've read, Blue Parakeet is a book one could possibly navigate in a few days.

Blue parakeets, according to McKnight, are those squirrely Bible passages that seem ever-so difficult to understand.  They're the Bible passages that seem odd compared to the rest.  We're afriad of them, or we ignore them, or shoo them away, or cage them, but in any case, we never seem to know what to do with those pesky blue parakeets that fly into our roost.  What do we do about those Bible passages that just don't seem to make sense or rub us the wrong way?  McKnight insists that instead of trying to tame the parakeets, we should listen to them, let them be and "Let the Bible be the Bible."  He provides 3 ways to begin reading the Bible, blue parakeets and all.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

On Friday, I finally saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."  I thought it was a good film, even though I've read many critics who did not like it.  It was a bit long, but it didn't feel long to me.  It's the story of a man born in 1918 with some kind of defect that made him look old, even as a baby.  As he got older, his mind aged but his body got younger.  So as a baby, he was a wrinkly prune-looking thing with arthritus in all of his joints.  And as a pre-teen, he was bald and limited to a wheel-chair, looking like a man in his 80s.  But as he got older, his hair became less white, his skin smoothed, and he became younger and younger while everyone else around him got older and older.  Eventually, Benjamin lives out the last few years of his life as a senial toddler.

There were alot of interesting themes in this movie that I'm still chewing on.  There's the theme of rejection and isolation, as Benjamin must learn to cope with his deformation as a child, but ironically there's a point in the movie when we begin to feel envious of him as he becomes the strapping Brad Pitt at age 60.  There's the theme of time . . . how quickly life seems to whiz by and the despair of missed opportunities.  And the dominant theme is about death and aging.  It's about finding life's meaning in the love we share with others despite the sometimes undignified manner in which we age and die.  I read a review by Roger Ebert, who really didn't like the movie because he couldn't relate to Benjamin; the idea that a person would age backwards was too weird.  For me, this was the very thing I liked about the movie.  Despite the fact Benjamin spends his whole life aging backwards and getting younger and younger, the lesson he learns about the purpose of life was the same as his friends and family who were passng him going the other direction.  And in that way, Benjamin, despite all appearances, was just like us.    

The Real Saul, Counterfeit God

We're nearing the end of this study of mine on Saul.  For the past few months I've been taking a look at his story and trying to understand him more deeply as a character and a person by investigating the ways in which his insecurities affected his decisions and the tragedy that became of his life.  Saul was chosen by God to be the king of Israel, the first king of Israel.  But as with all insecurities, there was something inside Saul that made it difficult for him to accept and believe that he was who God said he was.  Though on the outside it may appear that Saul's greatest weakness was pride, his true weakness was his obsession with that internal voice, which eventually led Saul to fulfill the very things about himself he feared.  What we get with Saul is a case study in what can happen when we allow our insecurities to run rampant.

Here's a concept that I want to talk about today:  When our insecurities become the dominant voice in our lives, they often lead us away from a dependency on God's love and toward cheap imitations. 

2009 Cubs TV Schedule Is Out

The 2009 Cubs TV schedule just came out today.  Here's a link.  I absolutely CANNOT wait until the season starts.  Spring's around the corner.

A Few Videos I've Been Working On

A few years ago, I started doing alittle bit of video editing . . . just for fun, with a second-rate editing software, but it's something I've really enjoyed learning.  I've done a few projects over the past few years, but this last week I've had the opportunity to work on two projects that were pretty fun.  One was a promotional video for a couple at our church named Chris and Dawn Johnson, who lead a trip to Mexico with Amor Ministries to build houses for Mexican families.

The second video is a recap of our Wednesday evening baptism from this past week.  We wanted to create a short video to give our church family who couldn't make it an opportunity to gather the feel of the event, and hopefully help more people feel comfortable about possibly taking a similar spiritual step in their own lives.  Of course, now, that I finished the product, I realized that I got the date wrong on the opening scene . . . should be 2009, not 2008.  Oh well.   

Mark Driscoll On CNN

Just saw this interview on CNN tonight.  D.L. Hughley (how he got a show on CNN, I have no idea), interviewed Mark with respect to Valentines Day and how Mark talks about sex at Mars Hill so openly and freely.  Driscoll does an amazing job.  I know he's a guy most people either love or hate, but in this interview he rocked.  The guy's so cool in these kinds of situations, I'm sick with envy, and next to D.L. Hughley, he looked like the most articulate, logical, and educated guy on the planet.

Milestone At Waterfront

Last night, two very important milestones happened at Waterfront.  First, we experienced our very first baptism.  It was really amazing.  We set up a portable baptismal in the home of one of our church leaders, and filled it up with a garden hose that ran through a portable heating system.  Basically took all day to set up, which was more than alittle bit of a pain.  But the end result was awesome.  A single mom who first came to our church because she saw an article about us in the paper 3 months ago, was baptized and took a major step in her relationship with Christ.  And dude, we had that house packed!  There were probably 50-60 people from our church there cheering her on.  It was great!

Then right afterward, we began our first night of small groups.  Again . . . awesome.  We had 3 small groups meeting in this house (a fourth and fifth will meet on Sundays and the sixth meets in Romeoville), and every group had many clearly engaged and excited people.  I was leading my small group for people who are new to the whole faith and Christianity thing, and we had nine people show up in that group (I call it Square 1).  And it was just cool.

Two very important things happened for us as a church in one night.  And I'm still riding the excitement of that.

Letterman on Alex Rodriguez

Just saw David Letterman's monologue, and he takes a couple of good shots at New York's very own 'roid doper, Alex Rodriguez.  Here's a quote:

"Alex Rodrguez has now admitted and apologized for using the steroids, and now he wants to put it all behind him and get back to being an over-paid disappointment."